1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ice making apparatus for producing ice cubes such as crescent ice.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ice cubes such as crescent ice are typically produced by an ice making apparatus illustrated in FIG. 18. In this figure, an ice making apparatus 70 comprises an ice making unit 74 including ice making plates for making ice cubes thereon and a water sprinkler 73 for distributing or sprinkling ice water onto the ice making surface of each ice making plate, and a reservoir tank 76 for receiving the ice water flowing down along the ice making surface of the ice making unit 74. The ice water reserved in the reservoir tank 76 is supplied into the water sprinkler 73 in the ice making unit 74 by a feed pump 77 including a pump section 77a and a motor section 77b for driving the pump section 77a.
The pump section 77a of the feed pump 77, the ice making unit 74, and the reservoir tank 76 are all accommodated in an ice making chamber 72 formed inside a main body 71 in the ice making apparatus 70. The ice making chamber 72 is formed of a thermally insulating material to reduce the influence of the outside air temperature.
The motor section 77b of the feed pump 77, and a control box 79 containing therein various electrical components are both accommodated in an upper machine chamber 78 formed in the main body 71. The upper machine chamber 78 is partitioned from the ice making chamber 72 by a thermally insulating panel formed at the back of the ice making unit 74, and has a ceiling surface constituted by a top plate 71a of the main body 71.
When the top plate 71a is removed from the main body 71, the control box 79 accommodated in the upper machine chamber 78 is exposed. Therefore, even if electrical components (not shown) within the control box 79 are repaired, the control box 79 can be taken out from the upper machine chamber 78. However, when the control box 79 is taken out from the upper mechanism 78, a number of screws must be released, or the main body 71 must be moved so as to make the mounting surface of the control box 79 laterally oriented. As a result, it is time-consuming to remove the control box 79, and thus much labor and time must have been consumed for repairing the electrical components contained in the control box 79.